Divided We Fall
by Topaz Waters
Summary: The Ministry of Magic has declared Hogwarts a safe haven, and transferred four magical schools to the castle. Hogwarts has more than enough troubles of its own to contend with, what will it do with six schools' worth?
1. Tight Fit

Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters, settings, and paraphernalia associated with the series are the rightful property of Warner Brothers Studios and the wonderful J.K. Rowling, without whom I might have a life aside from writing fanfiction and rereading Harry Potter thousands of times. I am not profiting financially from this material in any way, it is merely for my amusement and the amusement of whoever chooses to view my work.  
  
A/N: This is my first HP fanfic to be published on ff.net. Please, no flames; "U SUCK" does not help me improve my writing. And to the this-would-never-happen-so-it's-automatically-bad crowd, give me a break already! Isn't that what fanfiction is for, to make things that you want to happen do so?  
  
There's a lot of dialogue in this chapter, but there will be more description and such later. Right now I'm just trying to establish a plot, so hang on. The title will probably change later; I need to write more to decide just what it will be.  
  
Anyway, enjoy. Without further ado, I present you-  
  
Divided We Fall  
  
By Topaz Waters  
  
The train pulled away from the platform. The three friends had parted after they loaded their trunks, Hermione and Ron making their way to the prefects' compartment, Harry going off to find an empty one.  
  
It was hard to come by such a compartment this year. Everywhere he looked he was greeted by the sight of unfamiliar faces. The air was tense, reminding Harry strongly of the last few days after Cedric had died. The strangers' presence had been explained in a slip of parchment that had arrived with this year's supply lists:  
  
  
  
As all of you well know, the rise to power of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has placed the wizarding community of Europe in severe danger. Thus, certain security measures have been taken in order to guarantee the safety of Hogwarts students and all wizarding students across the continent.   
  
The Ministry of Magic has transferred four different European Wizarding schools to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The students will be housed and taught in the castle for as long as Voldemort is at large, or until such time as the Ministry decrees that they return to their usual schools. The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, feels that this action is for the best and insures that Magical education in Europe will be unhindered by the war we are preparing for.  
  
As Hogwarts students, I fully expect each of you to treat our guests with the utmost courtesy and respect. Remember that we all face the same fear and doubt in these troubled times.  
  
Yours sincerely,  
  
Minerva McGonagall  
  
Deputy Headmistress  
  
When they read their letters back at Grimmauld Place, Hermione hadn't been surprised in the least. She immediately launched into one of her infamous textbook recitals:  
  
"Well, I expected them to do something of the sort," she had said. "It's not really anything new. According to Hogwarts, A History, no less than 9 Magical schools were housed in the castle during the 1940's, at the height of the dark wizard Grindlewald's power. He did make an attack on the school, and of course, was defeated by Dumbled-"  
  
"Hermione," said Ron exasperatedly," If you go any further, the publishing company might come and arrest you for using their material without permission."  
  
Hermione, as usual, ignored him for the rest of the evening.  
  
"Wouldn't that be a tight fit, though?" Harry had asked. He was too used to Ron and Hermione's bickering to try and mediate the situation.  
  
"Well, not really, I mean, just look at all the empty classrooms that are never used", Hermione explained. "They could probably be converted into dormitories, and the Great Hall is big enough for a few more tables."  
  
"I hope the Durmstrang lot stays right where they are," said Ron. He mumbled something incomprehensible, although Harry was sure that he heard the word "Viktor" and another word, one that wasn't too nice.  
  
He also thought that Hermione had looked strange for a moment, almost flattered. She started speaking to Ron again shortly.  
  
  
  
Returning to the present, Harry looked around at the newcomers as he passed them. A few talked among themselves. Most stared at the floor.  
  
Seeing them really brought home that fact that Voldemort really was back. Harry wished that Ron and Hermione would come back from the prefect's compartment soon. He had started being comfortable with sharing other's company recently.  
  
He found a compartment towards the end of the train that was empty except for Ginny. They exchanged half-hearted greetings, and Harry proceeded to sit down and stare out of the window.  
  
A few minutes later, Luna Lovegood drifted into their compartment in her usual airy manner.  
  
"Oh, hello," she said, looking around. "Where's Ron?" She was wearing her hair piled high on top of her head, held up by tiger-striped hair clips. Her striped blouse and skirt were horribly mismatched, and around her neck was something that roughly resembled a frilly, powder blue necktie.  
  
"Er...." said Harry, surprised. What was Luna up to? "He's in the prefect's compartment." He heard a muffled sound. Behind Luna, Ginny had her hand clamped over her mouth to stop herself from giggling.  
  
"Oh, said Luna." She sat down next to Harry and buried herself in the latest edition of The Quibbler, as usual.  
  
Harry continued to stare out the window, and the thought occurred to him vaguely that Ginny had giggled over Luna and Ron's conversation on the train last year as well...  
  
***  
  
I have the next chapter written down on paper, I just have to type it up. I wanted to see how the ff.net audience received the concept before I posted more. Please review, I need to know what to improve! I promise that the next chapter will be up sometime this week! 


	2. Drama Queens, Purebloods, and Extendable...

A/N: First of all, thank you so much and forever to IdentityCrisis, ShadowRomantic, and Ryan for reviewing chapter one! I thought no one would ever review, you guys made me so happy!   
  
Once again, I apologize; I know that the stuff I've posted so far hasn't exactly flown very smoothly. Like I said before, I promise that after all of the exposition (and there are a lot of new characters to introduce, so please bear with me), there will be more by way of description and such. Right now it's just a lot of dialogue. Please review, it really, really helps me improve!  
  
Please note that single words in all capitals are supposed to be in italics, but I can't write italics in text-only format.  
  
The next chapter will be up soon; like before, I have it written on paper, I just have to type it up and do some heavy revision.  
  
Enjoy!  
  
Divided We Fall  
  
Chapter Two- Drama Queens, Purebloods, and Extendable Ears  
  
Ron and Hermione were coming back form the prefect's compartment when they were greeted by a most unpleasant sight. Draco Malfoy was laughing with Pansy and his cronies.  
  
"Here, Ron said, shoving a pair of Fred and George's extendable ears into Hermione's hands and started to insert some into his own.  
  
"What?"   
  
"Let's listen to what Malfoy's saying."  
  
"What do we care about what that little prat says?  
  
"In the last few months living with Fred and George, I've learned that eavesdropping is always worth doing."  
  
"Ron, we're PREFECTS, we shouldn't be eavesdropping on other people's conversations-"  
  
"Just do it, you never know."  
  
"What makes you think we'll hear anything important?"  
  
"Well, we could hear something about- well- about You-Know-Who."  
  
Hermione rolled her eyes, but placed the fleshy string into her ear. Fred and George's shop had been so successful with Hogwarts students over the summer that no one thought Ron and Hermione's extendable ears odd in the least. Malfoy's voice rang in their eardrums right away.  
  
"Look at them all...my father always said that the Beauxbatons lot were a bunch of washed up drama queens..."  
  
Looking over where gestured, they saw a group of students crying and wailing "Le monde finit! Le monde finit!" They wore the same thin, powder blue robes that the Beauxbatons delegates had donned during the Triwizard Tournament.   
  
"The little git's pretty cocky for having his father holed up in Azkaban," Ron remarked contemptuously.   
  
Malfoy went on. "Maelgwyn Academy...poorest Wizarding school in Northwestern Europe, they only stay open because of senile, muggle-loving patrons...Wystaff is fairly decent, they put some emphasis on the Dark Arts, and they don't stand for any mudblood trash, either..."  
  
Ron clenched his hands very slightly.  
  
Pansy batted her eyelashes at Draco. She had followed him around like a little puppy ever since the Yule Ball back in fourth year.   
  
"Draco," she asked sweetly, "are any of these people- well- respectable?  
  
Ron and Hermione knew that by "respectable", she meant pureblooded, wealthy, and almost certainly the child of a Death Eater.  
  
Draco looked around some more. "Well, over there, that's Demogorgon Datrin, he's something like my fourth cousin..."  
  
Demogorgon ("What kind of name is 'Demogorgon'?" asked Ron) was a raven-haired, malevolent-looking individual with frigid blue eyes talking to a knot of Slytherins a few seats away from Malfoy. He caught Malfoy's eye and greeted him.  
  
"Greek," said Hermione.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You asked what kind of name Demogorgon is. I just remembered what Binns told us about Demogorgon the Devilish, that Dark Wizard from Ancient Greece."  
  
"I didn't REALLY want to know, Hermione, I was just saying that it's a stupid name," Ron said. Hermione rolled her eyes once again.  
  
When Malfoy was done, he turned back to his group and went on, scanning the corridor. "That girl over there is Avelus Cypress's daughter, he's the head of the department of Magical Law Enforcement. Don't know a whole lot about her, but I think she's related to me by marriage somehow...  
  
The girl he indicated had short, straight, rust-colored hair, and was staring at the floor. A blonde student addressed her, and they started chatting amiably.   
  
"The girl talking to her is Bysen Stebbins, her father works with mine at the Ministry..."  
  
"Worked, you mean," said Ron gleefully. "Can't accomplish much in prison, can he?"  
  
"Let's go Ron, we won't hear anything important..." Hermione removed her extendable ear. "Harry is probably wondering where we are."  
  
"Alright," he said. He pocketed their extendable ears, moving to the door. They were almost out of the corridor when Malfoy spotted them.   
  
"Hey, Weasely! Granger!" Pansy shrieked with laughter and Crabbe and Goyle, following suit, guffawed stupidly. Ron drove his hand into his robe and closed his fingers around his wand.  
  
"Being brash, are we?" sneered Ron.  
  
"I don't have a clue what you're talking about, Weasel." Everyone in the corridor was watching them closely.  
  
"You don't? Really?" Ron smirked. "How's your dear old dad, then?"  
  
The entire room quieted. The capture of the Death Eaters had been closely followed in The Daily Prophet, and everyone knew what had happened to Lucius Malfoy.  
  
Malfoy's hand disappeared into his robes as well. His eyes grew cold with fury. "You're on dangerous ground, Weasely," he said in a low voice. "Don't you even breathe a word about my father."  
  
Hermione tugged on Ron's arm. "Come ON, Ron," she whispered. Ron brushed her off and pulled out his wand. Malfoy did likewise.   
  
"You should listen to your little mudblood girlfriend," hissed Malfoy.   
  
Ron raised his wand.  
  
"Oh, cut it OUT you two." The voice was sharp and condescending, and came from Bysen Stebbins, the blonde girl Draco had mentioned. Both parties lowered their wands. "I mean, HONESTLY. No one needs your little testosterone battles right now. Save it for a time when all of us AREN'T tired, hungry, and nervous. Come on, Iris, let's go and find a compartment." Iris, apparently, was the reddish- haired girl next to her, the one that whose name Malfoy had forgotten. She followed Bysen out the door. The silence lifted, and Ron and Hermione slipped out unnoticed in the chatter that followed. When they were safely away from the corridor, Hermione started in on Ron.  
  
"Ron, WHAT were you thinking, making a prat out of yourself like that? You know he's only provoking you, just ignore him!"  
  
"Are you kidding me? He called you a mudblood, I'm not going to just walk away after an affront like that..."  
  
"He called ME a mudblood, not you, so you need to learn a little self-control!"  
  
"I won't let him insult my mates like that! HE'S the one who needs self-control, if you ask me..."  
  
Hermione rolled her eyes.  
  
"You know, if you keep doing that, they might get stuck that way."  
  
"Shut up Ron! That girl was perfectly right; the both of you need to keep your hormones under control!"  
  
"It's not hormones, Hermione, it's him being a total GIT."  
  
They didn't talk for a minute or so, making their way to the end of the train. The tension that had existed at the beginning of the ride had eased up a little, and people were laughing and joking. Hermione told a few second years off for playing a particularly rowdy game of Gobstones. After a while, she spoke again.  
  
"Thank you for defending me, Ron."  
  
Ron faltered, and turned to her. "Well...er...you're welcome." His ears turned a little red at the tip.  
  
"Even if it WAS unnecessary, and even if you do need to learn a little self-control."  
  
"Yes, Hermione"  
  
"But it was very thoughtful of you all the same."  
  
The redness in his ears deepened the tiniest bit.  
  
A/N: So, what did you think? Please review; the last couple of people were so helpful! Thanks again, guys!:-) I'll update soon, I promise! 


	3. Arrival

A/N: I'm sorry that I took so long!!! I went through a temporary bout of writers' block, but hopefully it won't come back. Thank you for all your reviews; you don't know how much they mean to me! The chapters should (hopefully) start flowing more smoothly now, and this was SUPPOSED to be longer but I was taking so long writing it that I thought I'd just post this and write more later.

            I found out how to do italics and stuff!!! Yay!!! So I'm going to redo the other chapters with the formatting.

            Also, I was reading the fifth book over again and I remembered that Amelia Bones was the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, so I have to go back and give Avelus Cypress a different job. Umm...that's all for now, I guess. 

Divided We Fall      

Chapter 3- Arrival

By Topaz Waters

            When Ron and Hermione entered the compartment, Luna immediately jumped up in front of Ron.

            "Oh, hello Ron," she said, as if she had just noticed him standing there. "Had a nice summer, I suppose?"

            "Er...yeah." Ginny was shaking with silent laughter. Hermione pulled out a book and very determinedly began to read, while Ron just stood there looking puzzled. Harry felt a laugh trying to escape his throat, and tried quickly to cut it off.

            "Well," said Luna dreamily, heading for the compartment's sliding door, "I'm going to see if the snack cart is out yet." 

When the door had slammed shut behind her, Ginny's giggles erupted into ringing laughter. Ron glared.

            "What was that all about?" he asked.

            She was giggling too hard to reply. Harry felt himself start to laugh, too. The corners of Hermione's mouth twitched a little.

            "Don't you think its obvious, Ron?" She asked, her voice haughty, even if her eyes did show the slightest flicker of amusement. 

            "Er...no," he said flatly.

            She slammed her book down onto her bag and put a hand to her forehead. "Honestly, Ron! I don't see how you could have survived this long with that brain of yours, Ron, I really don't..."

            Ron's eyes flashed and he was about to snap at her, but Luna chose that particular moment to return with an armful of cauldron cakes and chocolate frogs.

            "I have some for all of us," she said. "Here..." She handed two of each to Harry, Hermione, and Ginny. Ron, however, received three cauldron cakes and five frogs. He stared at them, and then at Luna...then his eyes turned to Ginny. She nodded, snickering behind Luna's back.

            Harry watched the slow look of horror that crept across his best friend's face. Times like this made him see just why Hermione got so frustrated sometimes...

*   *   *

The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful; Ron and Harry played Exploding Snap, Hermione read from The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 6, and Ginny read a borrowed copy of a teen magazine called MMG (Modern Magical Generation). Luna alternated between reading The Quibbler and staring blankly out of the window.

            When the train slowed approaching the gates to Hogwarts, there was a rustle of commotion as everyone scuttled to collect their belongings. Harry started when he saw the white-eyed thestrals harnessed to the Hogwarts carriages; they would probably take a little time to get used to. As when he last saw them, he marveled at how he could have thought they were anything but the graceful, beautiful creatures that they were. Luna passed him, glanced at the spot he was looking at, and smiled.

            Harry was about to climb into the nearest carriage when he noticed that Ron and Hermione were no longer with him. He turned and saw them a little way away from the platform, staring at the carriages. He looked back at them, but saw nothing extraordinary. Besides the thestrals of course...but- of course! 

            "Ron! Hermione! Come on!" he yelled. Both of them were wide-eyed and staring at the skeletal black beasts. He went over to them.

            "Wh-wh-what are those things?" Ron asked, his voiced tinged with alarm. Hermione said nothing, just staring at them in a mixture of awe and fear.

            "They're thestrals, Ron," Harry answered. 

            "Thestrals? But I thought you can only see them if you've seen someone..."he stopped.

            Harry had forgotten that they, too, had witnessed death firsthand now...

            "So-so these are the things we were riding last year?" Hermione's voice was barely a whisper. "They're...well...they're..."

            "Come on, we won't get a carriage if we don't hurry," Harry said gently. Ron took her arm and half-dragged the dazed Hermione to a nearby carriage and helped her inside.

            "Come on, Hermione, it's all right; we've been around them before," he said. "They didn't hurt us then..."

            She nodded blankly, her eyes glassy. 

            The ride to the school was a silent and uncomfortable one.

            When they got to the Entrance Hall, Harry was quite startled when one of the drapes next to him sneezed. He told this to Ron, who raised a skeptical eyebrow and pulled the curtain aside. 

            Peeves was there, sobbing. Everyone in the Hall turned to stare at him. In return, he half-heartedly pitched the nearest candlestick at the crowd and flew off. After a moment's tittering from the occupants of the Hall, especially from those hit by the candlestick, people started moving towards the Great Hall again.

            "What was that all about?" asked Harry.

            "Dunno- Come on, I'm starving."

            "What else is new," muttered Hermione. Harry realized after a moment that she hadn't spoken since seeing the thestrals.

            They joined the dwindling throng of students heading for the Great Hall and made their way to the Gryffindor table. But the Gryffindor table, unfortunately, had been moved. Looking around, they saw that the entire setup of the Great Hall had been altered. The High Table was still at the front, but there were now 8 other tables lined up. The Great Hall itself looked a little bigger, too.

            "They did a scaling spell, I guess," said Hermione. "There's probably spells on the dormitories too..."

            "Which dorms are they sleeping in, do you think?" asked Ron.

            "Well, whatever house they're sorted into, obviously."

            "They have to be sorted?"

            "Of course," Hermione replied. "It's Hogwarts' policy that all students to be taught in the castle must be sorted first."

            "Great," said Ron moodily. "Now we'll have all of Malfoy's mates from the train in Slytherin. That's just all that the world needs, more Slytherins..."

            "What are you talking about?" asked Harry.

            Hermione and Ron proceeded to tell him what they had overheard on the train.

            "...And it was so weird, they all knew each other and stuff...and they're all related to each other."

            "That's what Sirius told me," Harry said, his voice wavering slightly. Hermione and Ron looked taken aback, Harry hadn't mentioned Sirius to them since last year...

            After and awkward pause, they drifted with the crowd into the hall and found the Gryffindor table by following their classmates. The heads of Houses directed the new students to the other tables. One thing that Harry noticed was that the other wizarding schools were significantly smaller than Hogwarts. Hogwarts had hundreds and hundreds of students enrolled, whereas the others had about two hundred at most. 

            Hermione had an odd sort of shadow in her eyes, but she pulled out a book as usual. Ron was looking over at the new tables, craning his neck as though looking for something. Harry contented himself with staring at the gold plate set down in front of him, losing himself in the hum of chatter that echoed around the Hall. He was quite startled when a deep, familiar voice rang out:

"I would like to welcome you all," said Albus Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling, "students and guests- to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."       

A/N: Wow, reading it over, that didn't come out too good...What did you think? Please please please review!

A couple notes:

Once again, I am SOOOO sorry that I didn't update sooner. I wanted to make my chapters longer, like everyone keeps telling me, so it took a while.

I've been getting a lot of homework lately, it's the first week of school and the teachers are already thinking about MCAS tests, apparently. Now, I can only sneak onto my computer in the afternoon for so long, so it's gonna be tough to pump out these chapters, but I'll keep trying. 

To all who have reviewed, I thank you so much and forever!!! It's just so uplifting to get an inbox full of ReviewAlerts when I come home from school.

On a final note: Though it may seem like it, I'm not _trying _for the generic HP sequel thingy, I just suck at exposition...I WILL try to get it darker in later chapters, I promise. I know that sounds stupid, when you consider the tone of the past three chapters, but it will (hopefully) swing around!!! Unfortunately, because of *dum dum duuum* SCHOOL, I won't be able to get chapters out easily...My brain hurts...and my braces too...ouch...I hope I haven't utterly confused anyone but myself... please R/R!!! Thanx ^_^


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